Character: Nelson Muntz, voiced by Nancy Cartwright
First Episode: Bart the General (S01, E05-005)
Occupation: Though likely older, he's a 4th grade student that attends Springfield Elementary
General Demeanor
Nelson is introduced as the local school bully, who beats up those weaker than him either for money, amusement or revenge. Sometimes he's paired up with Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney, but other times he works on his own. In very early episodes he has two toadies who operate under his wing, but these two characters do not stick around for very long.
Often times, Nelson simply is at a scene to mock the misfortunes of someone, usually Bart. He does this by pointing at the person and laughing out his signature "HAW-HAW". In the later, less subtle seasons, he accompanies this laugh with an explanation as to why he's laughing (e.g. "HAW HAW, NO ONE LOVES YOU", etc.).
Nelson comes from a poor family. Often, Nelson is depicted living in a run down home, taking care of himself with little or no care or responsibility given to him by his parents or any other relative. Though his family is not expanded upon in earlier seasons, newer seasons depict his mother as a white trash stripper and his father as a deadbeat or at least missing. Though one episode brings his father back and explains why he went missing, with the assumption that he's back for good, later episodes once again set up that Nelson's father is gone.
As Nelson is a more developed character than the other bullies, he is sometimes depicted as a somewhat more reasonable character from time to time. Sometimes, he will join Bart, sometimes Milhouse and maybe others in various adventures, and sometimes Nelson appears as a more sympathetic character whose story arcs has him doing absolutely nothing along the lines of bullying, though in the most recent seasons Nelson has resumed his basic role of school bully.
Key Character Moments
The Rise of the Simpsons
Nelson first appears in Bart the General, one of the few characters from Season 1 whose appearance doesn't change all that much in later seasons. In the episode, Nelson and his gang of toadies bully Bart, among others, but Bart has enough and gets help from Grampa and his acquaintance Herman Larson to enact a plan to put an end to Nelson, which basically boils down to having everyone Nelson bullied (which is a lot of kids) to pelt Nelson with water balloons until he surrenders, which works and Nelson is forced to sign a "peace treaty" where he won't bully Bart and the others anymore even though he does anyway in later episodes.
The War of the Simpsons features Nelson first using his signature laugh, at Grampa's expense, but in this episode he laughs by going "Haw-haw-haw". His laugh would feature one less "haw" by the third season.
The Golden Age of the Simpsons
Saturdays of Thunder helps expands Nelson's role as a simply bully to more of a general badass-type character, by being the primary antagonist of Bart (and Martin) at a soap-box derby. For the next few seasons, however, Nelson's role is basically set as either a school bully or as the boy who laughs at people. He doesn't have much of a larger role for some time.
In Season 6's Lemon of Troy, he is one of many boys who find value in Springfield's lemon tree, and one of the many boys who go to retrieve it when its stolen by Shelbyville. For a time during that search, Nelson is matched up with Martin ("Team Discovery Channel"), and while Nelson does maintain a partnership with Martin for that duration, he does so very reluctantly.
Next season, Nelson joins Martin again, alongside Bart and Milhouse, in Bart on the Road. While Nelson's role in the episode is relatively minor, its revealed that he's a huge fan of Andy Williams, and upon learning he has a show in Branson, forces Bart to stop there so he can watch his idol live.
Nelson's role in 22 Short Films About Springfield is short, but memorable. At the end of the episode, Nelson is walking around town mocking everything, including Lisa's new haircut, Mrs. Glick falling into a trash can, and a man cramped into a tiny car. That last one comes back to haunt Nelson, as a very tall man exits the car, quickly catches up to Nelson and forces Nelson to walk around town with his pants down so that the mocker can, in turn, be mocked by the town.
Nelson takes center stage in Season 8's Lisa's Date with Density. As the title implies, Lisa takes a liking to Nelson and tries to change him for the better so she doesn't feel so bad about going out with him. The two share an awkward kiss at one point, and it seems like Lisa's plan is working, but after Nelson takes an opportunity to splatter Principal Skinner's house with rancid cole slaw, Lisa eventually finds out and gives up on him, though the two apparently remain friends from that point on.
The Fall of the Simpsons
Nelson is the star quarterback of a peewee football team in Bart Star, though when Homer takes over as coach he makes Bart QB instead. When Bart quits because everyone but Homer realizes how awful he is at it, Nelson regains the spot. When an arrest warrant is issued for Nelson during the title game, Bart decides he's willing to fill in - as Nelson for the warrant though now Bart is taking the rap for apparent arson charges, but its fine because Nelson helps the football team win the championship!
Nelson is one of several kids stranded on an island on Das Bus, and after it appears Milhouse ate the last of their supplies, Nelson is the most aggressive in seeing Milhouse be punished, though its eventually learned it was a boar that ate (most of) those supplies.
Nelson has a notable role early on in Bart the Mother, where he "wins" a BB gun at a fun center. Bart - despite Marge's wishes - hangs out with Nelson, who lets Bart use the BB gun and is proud of Bart when he unintentionally kills a bird with it.
These last few seasons, Nelson's role has evolved somewhat. While he still acts as a bully from time to time, he becomes more of "one of the kids" who hang with Bart and sometimes Lisa, and in those groups he's basically the rough and tough member. This is apparent in Season 12's New Kids on the Blecch, where he, Bart, Milhouse and Ralph are chosen to be a new boy band. However, in Bye Bye Nerdie, in the same season, Nelson acts as a bully Lisa exploits to test her theories on how bullies tick.
Zombie Simpsons
During the first few seasons of Zombie Simpsons, a joke starts up where Nelson's father left him a long time ago after stating he left to get some smokes. This, despite the fact that Nelson's father appears as recently as Bart Star. Episodes which use that joke includes Season 14's The Bart of War.
This is addressed in Season 16's Sleeping with the Enemy, when Nelson stays with the Simpsons because Marge can't get Bart or Lisa to spend time with her and so she spends time with Nelson instead. Nelson openly laments about his missing father and his lethargic mother, prompting Bart to locate Nelson's father. Turns out, Nelson's father did go out for smokes that night but unwitting ate a chocolate bar with peanuts. His peanut allergy triggered enough to disfigure his face, he is quickly captured by a circus troupe who puts him into a freakshow. Constantly bombarded by peanuts, he remains in the show until Bart eventually tracks him down. With Nelson's family reunited, you'd think there'd be some lasting canon for episodes to come (there isn't).
In Season 18's The Haw-Hawed Couple, Nelson tries to force everyone to go to his birthday party, but an angered Bart convinces everyone not to go instead. Learning about this, Marge forces Bart to go to that party, where he learns his plan worked and he's the only one actually at the party - alongside a very depressed Nelson. Being the only one that showed up, Bart is quickly befriended by Nelson. As Bart starts to enjoy the perks of being Nelson's friend, Nelson realizes that Bart is only interested in Nelson's protection, not his friendship, and after some time and events occur, the two are no longer friends (though one season later, in The Debarted, the two are working together anyway).
Season 19's Dial N for Nerder puts Nelson into the role of detective as he tries to figure out the mystery behind Martin's disappearance, and correctly suspects Bart and Lisa as at least knowing what happened to Martin, but Martin turns up okay and that's that.
Zombie Simpsons HD
In Season 22's Loan-A-Lisa, Lisa anonymously loans Nelson $50 so he can start a bike repair service. It helps a lot, as Nelson's business booms tremendously, so much so that Nelson decides to quit school to focus on the business. As Lisa tries desperately to get Nelson to go to school, and the likes of Mark Zuckerberg are no help, it turns out Nelson's uses a water-soluble glue on bike repairs, meaning they fall apart in the rain, causing a lot of angry customers and a busted business. Realizing he needs to stay in school long enough to learn what 'water soluable' means, Nelson decides to return much to Lisa's relief.
Otherwise, there are several episodes in this era where Nelson bullies Bart as a sidestory and Bart handles it in one way or another but its nothing really worth pointing out.
Must Watch Episodes that Focus on Nelson Muntz
Bart the General
Lemon of Troy
Bart on the Road
Lisa's Date with Density
Bart Star
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